The Dutch have a statutory system in which all political parties have to run their fiscal plans past a ‘fiscal council' before an election. We could do with such a body here to put politicians on the spot about how they intend to either achieve eye-watering and often unrealistic deficit targets or fund grandiose tax pledges. Instead, we have the Office for Budget Responsibility and various thinks-tanks to fill the information gap as best they can.

The OBR delivered its own economic and fiscal outlook for 2019/20 the day of the Autumn Statement. Among its more eye-catching conclusions are that the budget deficit is set to fall by only £6.3bn this year to £91.3bn, half the amount predicted by the OBR only last March, and mainly due to lower than expected tax revenues. This is the second smallest year-on-year reduction since 2009/10.